


Perception...

by CrimsonWriter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Always Female Harry Potter, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Female Harry Potter, Gen, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-04-29 07:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonWriter/pseuds/CrimsonWriter
Summary: …is everything. Or, in which Evelyn, Girl-Who-Lived, Lady of the House of Potter, goes to Hogwarts as a boy and wages war on the status quo.





	1. First Year, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> There's a lot of background missing right now. A lot of questions will be answered later on. :) This is sorta-mostly canon-compliant up until about halfway through second year. Again, sorta. Hang onto your socks and have a nice ride. This has about 42K words already written, so.

Evelyn heard her name—actually Harry Potter, instead of Evelyn Potter, since she was disguising herself as a guy—being called out and maneuvered her way through the throng of people. As the Hat slid over her ears, the first thing she heard was an exclamation of shock and then uproarious laughter. "My, aren't you a _sly_ one?!"

She scowled. "I've had to be, obviously. Put me in Gryffindor."

"Why should I, little snake?"

"How much do I tell thee, Let me count the ways," she misquoted snarkily in her head. The Hat snorted. "First, the world is expecting a typical brash boy raised with Muggles. Second, Gryffindors can do no wrong so if I upheave society it's all for the best and I am so _very_ sorry. Third, Gryffindors are also the most obtuse people in the school so if I act like a girl I'll just get teased a little and then they'll drop it instead of people actually trying to figure out if I really am a girl. Fourth, if I do get found out before my plans are in motion, that's the least likely House next to Hufflepuff to get raped in. Must I go on?"

"You would be the jewel of Slytherin," the Hat coaxed.

"I would be murdered before the night's out," Evelyn said sourly.

"You would be great," the Hat said. "Make connections."

"I can do that just fine from Gryffindor," Evelyn snapped. "And great simply means 'big' or 'a lot'. Would I be a lot good or a lot evil? I'm not willing to find out, are you?"

"If I put you in Gryffindor, you have to do one thing," the Hat finally said.

Evelyn turned wary. "What?"

"Reveal your gender before your fifth year."

Evelyn's mind raced. "You honestly think that I could condense everything into a couple of years?"

"You are unaware. Seek out those who have or will have a role to play in politics. You already have much sway; make the public love you. You walk a tightrope already—practice, and you will dance."

"I'll do it by the beginning of fourth year if you help me," she counteroffered.

With a whispered, "Deal," the Hat yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Evelyn walked down with a calculating and excited glint in her eyes.

* * *

By the beginning of October, Evelyn had spread her connections far enough (much to the consternation of a couple Gryffindors) that she got them all together and pitched her idea for a newspaper for the students.

She'd now had three people demand why she wasn't in Slytherin. She had just laughed at them and said, "Not for the lack of trying on the Hat's part."

But she did have a motive for the newspaper. It was quite simple, actually. It let 'Harry' Potter be public, be seen by people who didn't normally associate with or see 'him'. And it would put to rest some of those bloody rumors. Those things alternately amused her or pissed her off, depending on how stressed out she was.

Little by little, she learned more of her heritage and sway, both politically and publicly. Basically, she was half a step down from Albus Dumbledore.

The _Students' Selection_ dropped jaws with its debut. Fortunately, wizards did not have the racial prejudices that the Muggle world had. It was only against things that were not fully human, Muggles in general, and gender.

Not that big of a deal at all. None whatsoever.

No, actually, she felt like crying.

But she toughed it out, gathered some of her braver reporters (which were, ironically enough, mostly Slytherin and Hufflepuff), and sicced them on the Hogwarts population, asking all kinds of personal and potentially offensive questions. But half the school felt gratified with the resulting series of articles, while parts of the other half felt alarm, and the last parts of the other half felt outraged.

And when inquired as to who set up the questioning and the idea, they all pointed to 'Harry'. Protests died abruptly in the face of Evelyn's challenging and cool green gaze.

"Mate, how did you know? I never knew that girls had it so bad," Ron asked later.

"And you grew up in a male-dominated home," Evelyn pointed out dryly. "How would _you_ know if you aren't exposed to it?"

He was left to stew on that question.

* * *

Looking back on it, Evelyn could point to every majorly bad point in her life and have it land on Halloween. The only exception was when Dudley pushed her down the stairs and she broke her arm and got a concussion and had to be rushed to the hospital. That had been in April.

This Halloween was no different than the last ten Halloweens.

"Harry?"

Evelyn turned. Susan Bones was striding towards her, and then forced Ron to either scooch to the side or get sat on. "After last month's attacking articles, what did you want to do this month?"

The sable-haired girl thought for a moment. "Address the Muggleborn issue, perhaps? Get the public wanting the incoming Muggleborns to be taught their traditions. If these traditions are so important, why aren't people introducing the newcomers to them? I can understand culture, I can't understand stupidity or purposeful ignorance."

Susan whipped out a notebook. "Can I quote you on that?"

Evelyn looked amused. "Yes, Susan."

"Quotes, Potter? Next you'll be handing out signed photos," Malfoy drawled.

Evelyn looked innocent and made to reach for her bag. "Did you want one, Draco? I didn't know that you liked me so much," she simpered.

Ron spewed his pumpkin juice as he roared with laughter, the majority of those in Evelyn's vicinity following Ron's example. Susan just shook her head as Malfoy turned beet red and scrambled away. She poked Evelyn in the arm, and simply said, "Slytherin. Definitely Slytherin."

"Lavender, did you get a picture?" Evelyn called over the whoops of laughter. When the blonde girl nodded, Evelyn grinned. "I want that picture framed. I'll buy it off you. My greatest achievement: making Draco Malfoy blush to the roots of his hair." She sighed dreamily, propping her head on her hands, looking off into space, looking like the stereotypical lovesick teen.

The Gryffindor table exploded into laughter again, just as Quirrell burst through incredibly heavy doors. For a moment, Evelyn wondered if the professor had had a bit of an accidental magic burst to fling the doors open that quickly. At least, that was what she was thinking until he opened his mouth: "TROOOOLLLLLLLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"

The Great Hall went dead silent.

Then, in a display that struck Evelyn's admittedly morbid sense of humor, Quirrell said, almost sarcastically: "I thought you ought to know," and passed out, landing face-first into the floor.

Before anyone even had time to scream, Dumbledore stood and immediately began calling out orders to the students and staff alike.

Susan got swept along with the Gryffindors, since she'd been with them during Quirrell's…announcement. That was just fine by Evelyn, as long as everyone was safe. They could return Susan to Hufflepuff in the morning.

Or, at least, it was just fine until the moving staircases moved and almost tossed Evelyn over the edge. Susan grabbed the back of her robes and Ron's forearm and managed to keep Evelyn steady and safely on the staircase.

Percy said a bad word as he gripped the rail. The Gryffindors ahead of them paused when they saw that they were split from the rest of the group, but Percy waved them on. Evelyn heard Ron muttering either a prayer or a sacrilegious curse.

The staircase settled again, now with options of going through the forbidden third floor corridor or going back down and finding another way through the maze that was the castle. The Gryffindors reversed just in time for the troll to fall through a wall face-first, startlingly reminiscent of Quirrell.

Lavender screamed.

"Run!" Percy yelled, leaping onto the railing to get out of the rest of the Gryffindors' way in a display of agility and balance that Evelyn didn't expect from the bookish Weasley. The redhead whipped out his wand from his sleeve.

Evelyn turned and ran into the third floor cooridor.

"Percy!" Ron said.

"Your brother's a hidden terror, he and a couple of the other fifth years are going to kick the troll's arse," Evelyn said, shoving him along.

"But—"

"We just learned our first charm today, Ron," Evelyn panted, slamming her shoulder against a door hard enough to fly open and bang against the wall. "What exactly do you suggest we do with the _Levitation Charm?_ "

"Go this way!" one of the Twins said, yanking on a lamp sconce. The stones to the left of it melted away, revealing a tight, twisting, dark staircase.

Hermione conjured blue flames, lighting her face eerily. She cupped them in the palm of her left hand like it was nothing.

Evelyn had no idea where the Twins were taking them. But however much she would never trust them with her food, she would definitely trust them to get a bunch of defenseless kids to safety.

All of a sudden, they were back on the moving staircases, two stories above where they had been previously. They collectively looked down. The fight was going badly.

"If we can stop it from going anywhere…" Ron muttered. "From doing anything to the fifth years…"

Evelyn looked blankly at her friend. "Ron?"

"Evelyn," Ron said, suddenly grinning, "here's what we can do with the Levitation Charm." He leaned over the railing, fumbling for his wand, and braced himself: " _Wingardium Leviosa!_ "

The troll stopped a moment when it's club came down and it bounced itself up from the force.

Evelyn got it immediately, grabbing at her pockets, leaning over the railing and yelling, " _Wingardium Leviosa!"_

" _Wingardium Leviosa!_ " Susan cried, followed almost immediately by Hermione.

" _Wingardium Leviosa!_ " Lavender and Parvati said at the same time.

Over and over again, until Gryffindors and the lone Hufflepuff were lined up at the railings, using a first-year charm to levitate a half-ton troll a full story above where it had started and four stories from the ground.

The troll was wobbling around and waving its club through the air with no resistance. Eventually, though, it went limp after a few dozen red spells slammed into it.

With difficulty, the collective mass of at least half of Gryffindor lowered the troll down to the first floor.

"Well," Susan said, lightly panting. "I'm glad that I got to participate in a classic 'Gryffindors charge forward'…thing."

It was probably half adrenaline crash and half exhaustion, but that was the funniest thing that Evelyn had heard all day.


	2. First Year: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The musings of our resident Potion's Master, discussions of Quidditch, and the end of the year finale.

Severus Snape watched the boy interact with his classmates. From the reports of the other teachers, he was a great student and picked up on things quickly. He was apparently like an unpaid teacher's assistant and actually helped his classmates instead of Granger's attempts to help but only spouting the book back at them. The teachers were unsure and surprised at his drive and will, knowing that he interacted with _all_ the Houses without bias.

And he had a _wicked_ sense of humor. His acting was flawless. He could take the mickey out of an unsuspecting bully, like his godson had been.

He was proactive, connected, and utterly Slytherin. Harry Potter was an enigma. A snake in sheep's clothing.

And one Severus Snape was utterly confused. He looked so much like Potter but acted so much like Lily. Little was known about him besides the obvious surviving-the-Dark-Lord's-Killing-Curse spectacle, and yet everyone was comfortable around him. He'd been out of sight for the past ten years, and yet he walked the tightrope of fame like someone who had been doing it for years. Snape suspected he was getting a lot of help, but besides his connections, who were not all that helpful in that respect, he didn't interact with anyone who could help him with the fame.

_Who_ was helping him?

_What_ was he doing, publishing and helping these reporters shake up beliefs and society's gender roles?

If Snape suspected correctly that he had looked up every well-known and obscure law of the Wizarding World, _where_ was he going this upcoming summer?

He was planning something. _When_ was it going to come out?

_Why_ wasn't he in Slytherin?

So many questions, and no answers.

Harry Potter was a complex riddle that he intended to solve.

* * *

Much later, as winter melted into spring, Evelyn grabbed one of the school brooms and tinkered with it for a week before going into the sky with it. She spiraled into the air with a wide grin on her face. Hedwig even joined her for some of it.

When she came back down to earth, most of her connections were sitting in the stands, watching her fly.

"You're a really good flier," Blaise said. "Why don't you try out for the Quidditch team next year?"

Evelyn shook her head. "I like to fly, but I'm not all that into Quidditch."

"Gryffindor lost a good Seeker," Blaise said nonchalantly. "Good for Slytherin, I guess."

Evelyn arched an eyebrow. "If you're trying to get me to try out for Quidditch, you're doing a horrible job."

"Oh, come _on_ ," Blaise persisted. "Slytherin needs some competition."

"No."

"Please? It's lonely up there at the top."

"No."

"C'mon, Harry, you'd be good," Ron said.

"Oh, not you too!" Evelyn exclaimed.

"It almost always comes down to Gryffindor and Slytherin anyways," Ron said. "Please, Harry? Help us win against the Snakes?"

"No!"

They wheedled and coaxed and each time they were given a negative more resounding than the last.

They were bickering so loudly they got shushed by McGonagall. "Why are you arguing so loudly?" she demanded.

"These people are _demanding_ that I try out for the Quidditch team next year," she huffed. "I do _not_ want to try out, seeing as I do not care about Quidditch and that I just like to fly."

"But you're brilliant on a broom!" Ron argued. "You would win the Seeker role hands down!"

"I have enough going on _without_ the added extracurricular," Evelyn snapped. "I already have two, plus school. My flying is _my_ time and I am not about to let you people run roughshod over something that _I_ enjoy!"

"But _Harry,_ " Daphne pleaded.

"Two?" McGonagall questioned, startled.

"Yes, Professor," Evelyn snapped. "Actually, more like three or four. The newspaper; learning my heritage; balancing my fame, my schoolwork, and my private life; keeping my classmates from doing something stupid regarding the third floor; and trying to appease my cantankerous Potions professor. And really Professor, has it been so long since Dumbledore was a hormone-riddled and hormone-ruled teenager in which all my classmates third year and up are to prove their manliness by toeing the line of madness and death? I do _not_ need another extracurricular."

Her short hair stood on end in gravity-defying spikes, magic pulsing out of her pores, she was so irritated. She whirled on the people surrounding her. "Utter one more word linking me to Quidditch and I will hex and prank you so badly that you will _wish_ for death."

She whirled and stalked off, students and teachers alike giving the pre-teen a wide berth.

And all any teacher could see was Lily Evans's temper.

* * *

Evelyn sneaked into the third floor.

"All that talk about keeping your Gryffindorks from doing something stupid, and here you are, doing something stupid," Blaise's distinctive voice drawled. Evelyn must have jumped a foot. "Hypocrite, much?"

"It's not my fault that the teachers are morons," Evelyn hissed. "I went to three different teachers, and they all tried to keel over and then told me that it wasn't any of my business and that the stupid thing was safe. Well, I will tell them just how _safe_ it was when a first year gets through their defenses."

"Two first years," Blaise said. Evelyn stared. "What, you think I'm going to let you go alone?"

"Your neck," she muttered. "C'mon, then."

Evelyn threw open the door, startling the dog awake. It was sleepy and slow to react as Evelyn put the recorder Hagrid got her for Christmas to her lips and played "Three Blind Mice". The dog, half-standing, swayed, it's six eyes drooping, and then collapsed into a furry heap.

"A Rottweiler," Blaise muttered. "For some reason, I was imagining more of a mastiff."

Evelyn snorted into her recorder and creating a hooting sound much like an owl's, lifting the trapdoor with one hand and playing with the other to keep the Cerebus asleep. She flicked her wand, the tip lighting up. Blaise stared at her with her silent spell. She shrugged, and pointed the light down the hole.

Evelyn sat down, her legs dangling in the hole, and let herself drop. She landed on a bed of plants that recoiled at her light. She yelled up, "You'll be fine. Drop!"

Blaise fell from the hole and bounced on the plants just like she did. Evelyn prodded at a plant that tried to wrap itself around Blaise's wrist.

"What in Merlin's name is that?" Blaise yelped.

"Dunno, but it doesn't like light all that much," she said. "Weirdo plant."

Blaise snorted. "Let's keep going."

"Hagrid, Sprout," Evelyn ticked off the teacher's names. "We're left with McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Quirrell, and Dumbledore."

When they got to the big, open chamber with a whole bunch of keys (after they realized that they were, in fact, flying keys and not birds), Evelyn simply muttered, "Flitwick. Definitely Flitwick."

"A big, silver, ancient-looking key," Blaise guessed, looking at the lock. "Because I doubt that I can pick it."

"I don't have my tools with me," Evelyn admitted.

Blaise mock-gasped. "You? Gryffindor's Golden Boy? Lock-picking?"

"It's a favorite pastime of mine," Evelyn said sweetly. "That, and my uncle used to like to lock me in my room."

"Your uncle and my stepfather both," Blaise muttered. "There are brooms over there. There's four."

"You take one, I take one, and we both look for that key," Evelyn suggested.

"It's the one with the crumpled blue wing," Blaise said, pointing upward, handing her a broom.

"I see it!"

They took off and circled the swarm of keys, swooping and diving until they managed to get to the key, and then Evelyn smashed it against the wall, yelling, "Gotcha!"

The key, now with two crumpled blue wings, was inserted into the door and tossed aside. It halted in midair, shakily flying away. Evelyn snickered at the poor, unfortunate key. "Let's get out of here before it resets," she said.

"It'll do that?"

"Dunno, but I'm not willing to find out," she said.

Blaise shook his head. "Is that your response for everything?"

"A lot of things," Evelyn admitted, soaring through the doorway and laughing aloud as she simply flew over the chessboard, the chessmen becoming alive and swinging out-of-reach weapons at the two uselessly. "So, Hagrid, Sprout, Flitwick, and McGonagall. Quirrell, Snape, and Dumbledore left."

"Yeah," Blaise said nervously, eyeing the battle axe a knight was wielding against him warily. His head jerked up when Evelyn shouted a wordless battle cry that sent shivers running through his body, and watched, stunned, as she drew her wand and fired off several hexes before levitating the troll's— _it was a troll, oh Merlin's saggy Y-fronts—_ club and then suddenly cutting the spell off and letting it drop on the troll's head when it lunged for her flying form.

"Oh, holy crap," Blaise said finally. "A troll? Who was stupid enough to put that there?"

"Dunno, but I'm willing to bet that it's Quirrell," she said.

"That should be your motto," Blaise grumbled. "I've heard you say 'Dunno, but _________' at least a dozen times in the past three days alone. You are either stupid or insanely lucky."

Evelyn chuckled. "Despite the Hat's insistence I go to Slytherin, I still have a lot of Gryffindor traits."

"I take it back, you're just nuts."

"You flatter me with your kind words," Evelyn said dryly.

She dismounted, seeing the bottles. Then Evelyn saw the sheet of paper:

_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_  
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,   
One among us seven will let you move ahead,   
Another will transport the drinker back instead,   
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,   
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.   
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,   
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:   
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide   
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;   
Second, different are those who stand at either end,   
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;   
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,   
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;   
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right   
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

"Okay," Blaise said, scratching his head. "Any idea what that meant?"

"Well," Evelyn said slowly, reading it again. "There are two wine, three poisons, a potion that lets us go forward, and a potion that lets us go backward. If we identify the two bottles of wine, we can eliminate four of the bottles. That being said, these lines right here, ' _Fourth, the second left and the second on the right/Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight,_ ' say that they are the nettle wine. So the first, second, fifth, and sixth bottles are eliminated."

Blaise pushed said bottles aside. "We're left with three. Two are the potions to let us go forward or backward, and the last is a poison."

Evelyn pulled the last bottle towards her. "This is the bottle to go back—look, we've already eliminated the first, because it was a poison to the wine's left side, and it says here, ' _Second, different are those who stand at either end/But if you would move onward, neither is your friend._ ' So, obviously, this is the backwards potion."

"And the smallest bottle will take us forward," Blaise said, seizing the tiny vial and bringing it forward to sit next to the backwards potion. "For ' _neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides_.'"

"Yes!" Evelyn cheered. She dug a hand into a pocket that Blaise automatically knew was charmed to hold as much as she wanted, based on how far her hand went into the pocket. She tilted the bottle to the side and held it to the firelight. "About ten drops, right?"

Blaise took the bottle and eyed it. "I'm thinking more twelve or thirteen. Potions tend to be deceiving when it comes to drops."

Evelyn shrugged. "I'm still getting used to this world, so I'll defer to your obviously superior knowledge."

He snorted and cuffed her in the arm. "Slytherin."

"Sarcasm," she corrected, finally pulling her arm out of her pocket. In her hand laid a dropper. "I knew I had it somewhere! Okay, six drops."

She sucked up the potion with the dropper, placing six drops on each of their tongues. Icy tingles spread through their bodies as they charged through the flames.

Evelyn expected a lot. A mirror and a two-faced teacher was not one of the expectations.

"What in hell?" Blaise uttered, completely surprised. "Professor?"

Quirrell shifted, and Evelyn clapped a hand to her forehead at the suddenly blinding pain. Fast as thought, the man shot ropes at them. Blaise was wrapped instantly. Evelyn had fallen to her knees from the pain and so the ropes had gone over her head.

"Two children," Quirrell mused. "Master, what do I do?"

Evelyn dug into her pocket, searching for her Potion's knife that should be long enough. In order to kill a human via stabbing it through the heart, the blade would have to be four inches in length. Evelyn learned that in her Anatomy class from primary.

A raspy voice sounded, seemingly coming from nowhere: "Kill the spare."

Her mind was clear, though pain throbbed through every nerve. She watched as Quirrell raised his wand, glowing a sickly green, get through three syllables of the Killing Curse's incantation, and Evelyn launched herself at her professor, silver knife gleaming wickedly as she flew through the air and plunged the knife between his ribs and through his heart. Quirrell froze, eyes bugging out, hands weakly scrabbling at the handle.

Someone was screaming. Multiple people were screaming as some black cloud ejected itself out of Quirrell with glowing red eyes hovering in its mass. She scrambled back shakily and fell on her butt, pointing the bloodstained knife at the ghost thing, her hands shaking badly. Blaise was screaming in terror. Evelyn was too breathless to scream. The ghost thing was screaming, apparently in pain.

It screeched one last time and disappeared through the roof.

Blaise's screams turned into whimpers.

"Oh my god," Evelyn whispered. She crawled over to Blaise and cut his bindings. "Oh my god, the next time I go off half-cocked because everyone else is being stupid, stop me."

Blaise managed a shaky laugh, rubbing his wrists to get circulation back into his hands. "Where's the Stone?"

Evelyn shakily stood and walked over to the mirror. "I need the Stone so that I can shove it up McGonagall's nose."

Blaise chuckled. Evelyn saw her reflection smirk at her, hold up the Stone, and put it into her pocket. Evelyn dug into her pocket and came up with it. "Let's go," she announced.

They made their way back to the third floor. She and Blaise, arm in arm (more out of necessity because of rubbery legs than camaraderie), marched up to McGonagall's office. Evelyn hammered on it with her free hand.

"What on earth—Mr. Potter! What did you—"

"Safe?!" Evelyn demanded, cutting her off. "Safe?! I won't be believing another word out of your mouth, that's for sure. I won't be believing Sinistra or Babbling, either. You want to know why?!" she bellowed. "Two first years got through your precious protections, and we got there just in time to stop one of your own staff from stealing it! A murderer on your staff! And he was ready to kill Blaise! What in _hell_ were you people thinking?! I thought teachers had to go through a thorough background check!"

Evelyn slapped the Stone in front of McGonagall. The elderly woman flinched. "Mr. Potter, that is a very fragile—"

"It survived an attempted murder and a near firefight," Evelyn snapped. "Being slapped onto a desk is hardly the least of its worries."

"Mr. Potter—"

"Shut up," Evelyn raged, waving her hands around for emphasis. "Do you know what I've gone through tonight? Idiots, blind devotion, killers, and disembodied voices. I have killed a person, Professor, because the man was about to use a Killing Curse on Blaise." Her voice broke. "I killed a man with my potions knife. Just because he was about to kill Blaise. Oh my god, Professor…"

Evelyn was driven to her knees again, out of guilt rather than pain, and barely registered Blaise hugging her. Someone forced her to drink something, and blackness consumed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably go back and add something in between, I didn't really realize how big of a time gap there was between chapter 1 and chapter 2 until I posted it.


	3. Year One: Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The very end of year one and transition to year two.

Evelyn groaned as she came to. "Harry!"

"What?" she muttered.

"Madam Pomfrey!"

"Mr. Potter, do you feel alright?"

"Better if you'd shut it," Evelyn grumbled, covering her head with her pillow.

There were quite a few chuckles. Someone wrenched away her pillow. Stubbornly, she covered up her head with her blankets.

Blaise gently pried her hands off of the blankets.

"I feel like crap, happy now?" Evelyn grumbled, green eyes snapping. "Now lemme go back to sleep."

"No, Mr. Potter. We'd like to know what went on in the third floor corridor."

"No one believed me when I told them that there was a plot to get the Stone. I went to the third floor corridor to show them just how inadequate their protections were. Blaise joined me there. We got past the traps without much difficulty. Quirrell was already there. He was talking to something that wasn't there but responded anyway. It told Quirrell to kill Blaise. He was saying the incantation when I killed him first."

"With what?"

"My silver potions knife," Evelyn said. "And then I cut Blaise's bindings with the same knife."

She turned over, her back to her friends, waiting for the yells of disgust and fear.

Silence. Dead silence. Evelyn winced at that phrase.

"Thank you, Harry," Daphne said quietly.

Evelyn flipped over, sitting up in disbelief. "You're _thanking_ me for killing someone? How buggered up is that?"

"Mr. Potter!"

"No, Harry, I'm not thanking you for killing Quirrell, I'm thanking you for saving Blaise's life," Daphne snapped at the same time. "Eventually you'll come to see it like that, I promise."

Evelyn shook her head in denial, tears pricking in her eyes and angrily wiping them away.

"Harry, I strangled my father with my jumprope when I was eight because he was threatening to kill my Mum and then my sister," Daphne said dully. "If anyone knows…it's me."

Jaws hung open, Evelyn's included.

"Is killing people in self-defense common in the Wizarding World?" Hermione asked quietly.

"A muggle's version of a dysfunctional family is the Wizarding World's model family," Daphne replied. "Any family that has more than five generations has at least one killing because someone was a little too far out in the left field and threatened someone in the family and someone else reacted."

Hermione shook her head in disbelief.

Evelyn bowed her head. Daphne got up and hugged her. Evelyn unconsciously leaned into the physical contact, bright green eyes shadowed in guilt and thought.

* * *

Phase one was complete. Evelyn was quite shocked that it happened so soon. People nodded to her in respect. There was no fear or pity, though the story had been published to the whole of the Wizarding World. She was known for what she had done, not something that she wasn't even sure that _she_ had done.

The people she associated with were getting second looks as well, which was Phase Two: seeing the people that she associated with, Muggleborn or pureblood, male or female, as equals. She personally didn't care, but others did.

Phase Three was expanding her influence to beyond Hogwarts. Namely, the government and the Wizagmont. She was seen as a trustworthy person inside and out of Hogwarts, for she lied about nothing—except her gender.

Speaking of which—her gender was going to get harder to disguise as she got older. Especially if she landed in the Hospital Wing too much. Evelyn resolved to learn healing spells so that she could successfully evade the Hospital Wing.

The week after she went back to the Dursleys, her time of the month started. She had to practice walking normally so that she wouldn't come under suspicion at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, any sudden moves would make her wince. So would any jarring steps, or running.

Petunia, who thought the entire _her niece is screwing over an entire world_ thing was funny and gleefully participated, went and got her a breastband. When she would be at Hogwarts, she would use a sticking charm to make sure that nothing went anywhere that it wasn't supposed to.

She was being tutored in all of Wizarding Tradition by Neville and Daphne, which was a start to Phase Three. Evelyn thought she might have to let one of them know that she was, in fact, a girl. Preferably Daphne. Daphne knew both roles, male and female, in the Magical Society like it was the back of her hand.

"Ev!" Petunia hollered. "Come set the table, please!"

"Coming!"

Yes, the upcoming year would be interesting.

Oh, if only she knew…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, sorry about that. I couldn't split chapters 2 and 3 in such a way that they were equal. One of them would have ended up being really short, I just eenie meenie miney moe'd it. I might go back and change it to the other.


	4. Second Year, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn asks for help in her quest to turn the Wizarding World upside-down, and Halloween strikes once more.

Evelyn spent a pleasant trip to Hogwarts with her friends, hopping from compartment to compartment. With, of course, the exception of Malfoy's intrusion.

Malfoy looked like he was fuming as he opened the door to their compartment.

"What's the matter?" Evelyn cooed, standing up and getting right in Malfoy's personal space, pinching his cheeks like he was a toddler. "Daddy disappointed in Drakie-dearest? Did pwoor Drakie do worse than a Mwuggleborn with an eidetic memowy?"

There was a strangled laugh that sounded like a dying goose behind her.

Malfoy slapped her hands away, face brick red, and stomped out of the compartment.

Evelyn sighed as she sat down. "Oh, that was marvelous. I love winding him up."

The compartment burst into laughter.

* * *

A week after the Welcoming Feast, Neville, Daphne, and Evelyn got together to make sure that Evelyn grasped everything correctly. When they finished with the review, Neville dug into his bag and brought out a book and gave it to her. "It's as boring as Binns, but it's come in handy every once in a while," was the accompanying comment.

Then he left, with Daphne and Evelyn in the room alone. Before she could lose the opportunity (and her nerve), Evelyn said, "I have a confession to make."

Daphne looked up from her bookbag, which she was packing. "Yeah?"

Her stomach was doing flips. "I'm a girl."

The expected reaction was widened eyes at the very least. It was not Daphne staring at her for a minute and then bursting into laughter. "No wonder half the guys think they're gay!"

Evelyn just stared at her. "What?"

"They think you're _pretty,_ girl! And there's no way in hell that they're going to admit it to your face!"

Evelyn buried her head in her hands.

"So, what's your name? Because, I mean, Harry can't be your _actual_ name, where on earth did they get _Harry_ from, anyway—"

"Evelyn," Evelyn said, cutting the suddenly babbling Daphne off. "My name is Evelyn."

Daphne shook her head. "I can't believe that I didn't see it. You hid for an entire _year_."

"No one was looking for it," Evelyn said.

"Am I the first?"

Evelyn nodded.

"When are you going public?"

"Beginning of fourth year."

Daphne looked at her strangely. "Why then?"

"It was a bargain with the Hat."

Unusually for Daphne, it took her a moment to realize what hat Evelyn meant. "Oh. OH! Wait, why did you have to bargain with him?"

"He wanted to put me in Slytherin. He offered to put me in Gryffindor, where I knew I needed to go, if I revealed my gender by the time I got to fifth year. I told him the beginning of fourth year if he helped me."

"So I'm not the first."

"You're the first I've willingly told," Evelyn corrected herself. "The Hat I really had no choice."

Daphne shook her head. "You are amazing Ha—Evelyn. Wait, why did you tell me in the first place?"

"I need to know both male and female roles," Evelyn said, shrugging. "I was going to tell Neville, but I wasn't sure if he knew the female roles. I knew you knew both roles, so…"

"You are brilliant. And you came to the right person. Okay, tell me everything…"

Evelyn told her of her plan, the phases, explained what she had done to secure the knowledge that she was a girl, explained what she needed to know to further secure the knowledge that she was a girl, and explained what she needed to know for when she revealed herself.

Daphne let out a low whistle. "You don't ask for much, do you?"

Evelyn swatted her, eyes gleaming with mirth.

"Okay, I'll teach you," Daphne acquiesced. "For one thing."

"Name it," Evelyn said.

"When you decide to reveal yourself, come get me. I'll help you make a statement," Daphne said.

"It has to be tasteful," Evelyn warned.

"It shall be done, my lady," Daphne said with a sweeping bow. She held her stoic face for a moment longer after she straightened up, and then both girls burst into giggles.

* * *

She hated Halloween. There was no changing her opinion. Especially not after Filch burst into the Great Hall during the Halloween Feast and demanded to know who killed Mrs. Norris, then turned to Evelyn and screamed that it was her. The cool, slightly angry look that she gave the caretaker scared more than a few.

November first, she and a bunch of her friends/associates investigated the crime scene. She paced around the water, eyes looking for even the slightest hint, remembering Mrs. Norris's stiff posture.

"Okay, we know that Mrs. Norris was petrified, and not by a Body Bind that one can undo in with a simple _Finite_."

"We know that it happened here," Daphne added.

"We know that the only possible witnesses to the crime are either unstable or petrified," Hermione said, rolling her eyes at the mention of Moaning Myrtle.

"We know that, supposedly, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened and unleashed Slytherin's monster," Blaise said.

"From that information, we can deduce that this monster has the power to petrify, either with venom or with some magical property." Daphne said.

"We can also guess that, from the way Mrs. Norris was frozen, said power had been reflected off the reflection of the surface of the water, and might be even more dangerous than a simple petrification." Evelyn finished.

The teachers' mouths were all hanging open, with the exception of Snape, who looked like he was expecting this but didn't know what exactly they were going to say.

"Slytherin was normally affiliated with snakes, hence the House's badge," Neville offered.

Susan seized the information. "So, to sum it all up, Slytherin's monster is most likely going to be a snake with some seriously dangerous magical properties and is probably sentient."

"Sentient?" Evelyn questioned, a confused look on her face.

Susan gestured at the blood on the wall. "It's pretty obvious that the monster is taking orders. Unless you specifically train something to do a certain thing in reaction to some kind of cue, you pretty much need some form of sentience in order to take orders from someone."

"So, going off of that deduction, we can figure the 'heir of Slytherin' is pureblooded and a first year," quiet Su Li spoke up.

They all looked at her in askance. "What?" she asked defensively. "We certainly didn't have this problem last year, did we?! And Slytherin was notorious for hating the Muggles and Muggleborn—he would have to be a hypocrite, not to mention placing his own life on the line, if he sent the monster after all those not pure of blood."

Evelyn shrugged and nodded with that conclusion. "Good job, all—especially you two, Susan, Su Li. Okay, folks, let's get the ball rolling. Suspicious first years and dangerous snakes are afoot—and you have no idea how ridiculous I feel for saying that—" Several chuckled, and she continued, "keep your eyes open, and if Mrs. Norris really was petrified because she looked at the reflection of the monster, keep a mirror on you at all times and look around corners with it. Better petrified than dead. Travel in groups. Spread the word. Daphne, Hermione, Su Li, could you get a good group together to scour the library for any and all monsters that have the power to petrify or kill through some kind of magical property?"

The three looked at each other, sizing each other up, and nodded at Evelyn.

"This mysterious monster will probably strike again before we can stop it. Who's good at drawing? I need a basic floor plan of Hogwarts. If we mark where the monster strikes, we can narrow down the area where we need to search for the entrance to the so-called Chamber of Secrets."

Several hands shot into the air. "Good, you five work together. If you need to explore the castle to make sure you have the map right, do so _carefully_. Keep yourself in a group with no less than three other people if you have to explore, understood?"

They nodded firmly. "Where should we put the map when we're done with it?"

"Hermione, Daphne, Su Li, you three work together with Dean, Mandy, Wayne, and Hannah to find one of the unused classrooms that would suit your needs."

"Where do _you_ think it should be?" Hermione asked seriously.

"First floor would probably be safest," Evelyn admitted. "Definitely not the second floor."

"If we have something important that we need the others to know, we should probably write it down on a sheet of parchment before moving from the current location, just in case we get petrified on our way to find Harry or one of the others," Wayne said.

"Yes!" Evelyn said, pointing at Wayne. "Anyone have a pad of paper so I can write everything down so that I don't forget?"

"Tony's got your back," Hermione said, gesturing to the Ravenclaw boy. "I tried, but I couldn't keep up with the rapid-fire ping-pong match of Sherlock Holmes."

All the Muggleborn and Muggle-raised burst out laughing.

"Shorthand," Tony explained shortly, looking up expectantly.

"Thank you," Evelyn said fervently. "Okay, let's sum this back up again to make sure that I'm not missing anything and neither is Tony. We are looking for suspicious first years who are controlling Slytherin's monster. Said monster is most likely a sentient snake with highly dangerous magical prowess. We are taking over an unused classroom on the first floor to house the map of Hogwarts that Dean from Gryffindor, Mandy from Ravenclaw, and Wayne and Hannah from Hufflepuff are drawing. Research from Hermione from Gryffindor, Daphne from Slytherin, and Su Li from Ravenclaw and whomever they want to work with to raid the library for dangerous magical creatures that match the aforementioned description of the monster, sans the snake part. Precautions for walking amongst the halls of Hogwarts include checking around corners with mirrors, writing important information down before moving from your location, and sticking together in groups. Have I gotten everything?"

There was a round of nods.

Evelyn clapped her hands together. "Alrighty, then. If anyone finds anything—or any _one_ —write it down and go find myself or one of the teachers behind us."

She struggled not to laugh as she heard a chorus of _click_ s as her teachers snapped their jaws shut. People scattered—up the stairs to the library, or down the stairs to the first floor to find a good headquarters for hunting down Slytherin's monster.

Evelyn turned to face her professors. The majority of them looked amazed. Snape just looked resigned.

"Mr. Potter, that was…" McGonagall said, apparently at a loss for words.

"Forty points to Gryffindor for an excellent show of leadership," Flitwick said.

Evelyn gave them a crooked grin and a sweeping bow, hearing the muttered words of, "I would swear he's Lily through and through, but then he goes and pulls that…" as she left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be completely honest, I didn't realize just how much of a...I don't know what to call this. An incomplete story? Really obviously not looked over? Not fleshed out until I hit my stride and absolutely ran with it? I know that these first pieces are definitely not my best work, they were me setting up to where I really wanted to be. 
> 
> Because of this, when I update next, you guys who have subscribed will likely get a bombardment of notices for all the chapters, including me adding a new one.
> 
> What else? I'm sorry this took so long to update, my cat decided that ripping up the keys off of my keyboard was a good idea. Thankfully they're still usable even without the caps, because my 'D' (and my 'L') are still MIA. So I have to hit it like three times before it goes. It's great. I have to replace my entire frickin' keyboard because she broke them when she ripped them off.
> 
> Also, I'm changing my update schedule to Tuesday. I seem to be swamped on Sundays now that I'm out of school.
> 
> Thanks for your patience!  
> -Ruby

**Author's Note:**

> Come holler at me on twitter: @redheadauthor
> 
> Will attempt to update this every Saturday or Sunday, whichever day I have more time. If you catch a typo, let me know!


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